100K families to join Egyptian social solidarity program: min.

CAIRO – 29 March 2020: As many as 100,000 families will be added to Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) program by the end of the year, the social solidarity minister said. It is a national program designed to protect the poor through income support benefit.

In an interview with Kol Youm on ON E, Minister Neveen al-Qabbaj said there are 3.5 million families included in the Takaful and Karama, which means that 15 million Egyptian citizens benefit from the program.

She added that the budget of the program surged from LE 3.6 billion ($229.25 million) in 2014 to LE 19.3 billion ($1.23 billion) now.

Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) conditional and unconditional cash transfer program is one of Egypt’s largest investments in human capital development. It was launched in 2015 with the support of a $400 million World Bank program.
It is implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity.

Takaful and Karama provides conditional family income support aimed at increasing food consumption, reducing poverty, while encouraging families to keep children at school and providing them with needed health care.

Along with ensuring vulnerable families receive basic nutrition, the goal is to build the human capital of the next generation and give them a path out of poverty.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said in July the government will continue to support social protection programs and the subsidy system, while establishing an accurate and sound database to determine the real beneficiaries.